How Does It Work?

Fourteen ping-pong balls will be placed in a drum, each with a number between one and 14 on it.

Four balls will be drawn out of the 14, leaving 1,001 possible four-digit combinations.

Before the lottery takes place, 1,000 of the potential combinations will be randomly assigned to participating teams, with the team in possession of the worst regular season record (the Charlotte Bobcats in this case) receiving the most.

Once the first set of four balls are selected, the team assigned that particular combination receives the first pick of the draft.

Those balls are then placed back in the drum where the process is repeated again for the second pick, and once again for the third pick.

If the one unassigned combination comes up at any point, the balls are put back into the drum, and the draw will take place again.

After the first three picks are assigned, the order of selection for the remaining teams will be determined by inverse order of their regular season record.

Could luck be on the side of the Cavaliers for a second straight year?

Cleveland has nearly a coin toss of a chance at finishing inside the top three, but after jumping past the Timberwolves last year, optimism is running rampant throughout the franchise.

That said, the Cavaliers not only have to jump past two teams this year, but in theory, a third. The Hornets are owners of their own lottery pick and Minnesota's, giving them better overall odds than Cleveland at finishing within the top three.

It's highly unlikely that we will see Steve Nash tossing alley-oops to Anthony Davis, Thomas Robinson or Andre Drummond next season. And not just because Nash is likely to leave Phoenix, but because the Suns barely have a two-percent chance at finishing with a top-three pick.

This is where the bittersweet nature of Nash's tenure comes in. Without him, the Suns are clearly not a fringe-lottery team—they are a bona fide one.

Should Nash leave, Phoenix may be left wondering what would have happened if he was dealt before last season.